Polyphonic Postcards

The flourishing cities of Renaissance Europe played host to an explosion of cultural activity. Papal Rome dripped luxury, Paris was renowned as a centre of learning, and port cities such as Lisbon and Seville were deluged with treasure from newly discovered corners of the globe. These cities were fertile ground for musicians: the Sistine Chapel could afford to employ the finest composers of the day, the resources of seventeenth-century Venice spurred the groundbreaking music of Claudio Monteverdi, and the chaos of Parisian street markets provided inspiration for Jannequin’s Les cris de Paris. This programme provides a fascinating snapshot of music, politics, and culture at the apogee of the European Renaissance.